Tea for you and me

Join me on my epic quest to find the best tea ever

Tag Archives: tea


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North Tea Power

36 Tib Street, Manchester, M4 1LA   (View on map)

The inside of North Tea Power, look at all the different types of tea on the wall.

LB suggested this place as somewhere to meet up as she’d heard about it and thought it would go well on the blog. She was right. North Tea Power is tucked away in the Northern Quarter but has a very good selection of loose leaf tea and – and this is the bit that makes it so great – have adapted their coffee machine to take tea. This sounds mad, but I am telling you now that black tea latte is the future.

We started with loose tea though, as the coffee-styled tea was a bit too much for us at 11am on a Sunday morning. I had Earl Grey Blue and LB had White Hairy Monkey, which is a white tea. LB had not tried white tea before but declared it was good. Both were fragrant and tasted of the tea rather than the pot – perhaps this is because they were served in glass cafetieres?A croissant was the food of choice for LB, but I went for a slice of the ‘Lumberjack’ cake. This was a date and apple cake topped with coconut that I would certainly have again. Filling and moreish.

Croissant, white tea, Earl Grey Blue and the mighty Lumberjack cake at North Tea Power.

After the tea and food we went back to the counter and ordered a black tea latte each. We could have had a tea mocha, a tea cappucino or a tea americano. I just wasn’t brave enough to try the tea mocha. It seemed very wrong at the time, but now I wonder if it would have had the combined comfort of a chocolate biscuit and a cup of tea.

My first mouthful of tea latte was strange and confusing. My brain said ‘coffee’ and my mouth said ‘tea’ and it took a few sips to reconcile my senses to the shock of a smooth frothy drink that didn’t have the bitter kick of coffee, but instead had the reassuring soothing quality of a cup of tea when it’s most needed. LB announced that she had found her new perfect drink.

LB's 'new perfect drink' - tea latte at North Tea Power.

I will be going here again the next time I’m in Manchester and this time I will try the tea mocha. If you want to have a strong cup of tea but need the frothy milk that goes with a good coffee, North Tea Power is the place to go. A brilliant retreat on a rainy Sunday morning.

Teapot? Yes, but one of those glass cafetieres rather than a traditional teapot.
Leaf tea? Yes, with the choice of having it made into a drink or buying a bag full to take home.
Milk jug? Big retro style milk bottle.
Price? £2 for the Earl Grey Blue, £2.20 for the White Hairy Monkey, £2.60 for the Lumberjack cake, £1.20 (I think) for croissant and jam. £2.20 for the tea latte.
Cake? Yes, and biscuits, sandwiches, tray bakes etc.
Go again? Yes.



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The Lowry Hotel

50 Dearmans Place, Chapel Wharf, Manchester, M3 5LH   (View on map)


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This was a special afternoon tea tasting trip with the usual suspects of H, E and N. H and E had organised this visit and N and I had chosen not to be told where we were going, but instead it was going to be a surprise. This suited me fine (once I’d checked the dress code and the price) as I like surprises. Perhaps because I didn’t know beforehand, or just because it’s a very stylish hotel, I got a bit snap happy and took lots of photos.

Before heading to The Lowry Hotel we had looked round the craft and design gallery of the Manchester Art Gallery. This had dozens of beautiful teapots as well as other beautiful yet useful things. I appreciated the design care The Lowry Hotel had put into their afternoon tea surroundings and food all the more after seeing the gallery.

Stylish as it was, the lack of carpet and liking for chrome meant the room was very noisy and this meant we couldn’t hear each other properly at times, but never mind. The Ritz‘s love of plush upholstery and thick carpet is justified. And they had sugar cubes – The Lowry only had sugar packets.

The menu was already on the table when we sat down and our first thought was ‘this is not enough tea’. The menu gave of a choice of about seven types of tea and only three of those were black tea. The choices were Earl Grey, Breakfast blend and an Afternoon blend (described as 50% Assam, 50% Darjeeling). H prefers a lighter tea and would usually have a Darjeeling. She ordered the Afternoon blend and found it too strong.

We sometimes have trouble with an equal amount of sandwiches as H and N are vegetarians, E will eat fish but not meat and I eat everything. The Lowry coped without any trouble and presented us with ham, salmon, cream cheese and cucumber, Lancashire cheese and tomato and egg – all to the correct people. I think H and N also had a hummus sandwich.

Scones were small and lovely with enough jam and cream to go round. The cake course had a raspberry and white chocolate cake, a passion fruit tart and a pistachio and chocolate mousse. They were all delicious, my only grumble was that the spoon we were given to eat the mousse with was too big to get all of the mousse out of the glass it was served in. A variety of methods were employed to try and get this last bit of extremely good mousse out and the favoured technique was turning the spoon upside down and using the handle. It’s not good table manners, but when there’s chocolate at stake…

All in all a reasonably good afternoon tea and the restaurant was decorated in my favourite colours so I was happy.

Teapot? Yes, but the three of us drinking the afternoon blend had to share a teapot that looked like a coffee pot. And we had to ask for hot water.
Leaf tea? Yes.
Milk jug? Yes, but only one between four so we had to ask for a refill.
Price? £19.95 each, but with service charge automatically added so it brought it to just under £22 each.
Cake? Yes.
Go again? Yes.


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Shiny new stuff

There’s some lovely new stuff on the blog!

Firstly, each review should now have a little link next to the address saying (View on map) and when you click on this magical link it will open a new window showing where the new tea temple is on the tea-tastic map page. I know it’s important to you all to find tea, so I hope this helps.

The second shiny new thing is a whole new page (I know, I know, I spoil you all rotten) called ‘Wish list’. Lots of people recommend places to me and I can’t get to them all fast enough to put a review on the blog in a timely fashion. This will have all the places that I want to investigate, along with a note about where I found them. There’s only two at the moment but I’ve got a backlog so there will be more soon.

Anything else you’d like to see? Let me know.


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Any tips for Birmingham?

It may be a bit late, but I’m heading to Birmingham today and wondered if anyone had any suggestions for where to drink good tea? I’ve had mixed results with finding tea in Birmingham previously. Druckers was good but Cafe Bebo was really not, though they have the dubious honour of being one of the first posts on the blog.

Let me know with a comment on this post or by sticking something on the form here.

Here’s to hoping for good tea today! And good tea for all of you too.


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The Spirit of Endeavour

Mayflower Park, Marsh Lane, Boston, Lincolnshire, PE21 7QS   01205 356678   (View on map)

Lamb tagine, tea and burger at The Spirit of Endeavour.

It’s a very grand name for a chain pub near a car showroom but those in the know apparently shorten it to ‘The Spirit’, which fits in with a licensed premises nicely. We went for lunch on New Year’s Eve and the tea was surprisingly good for a pub. R and AM both had a large burger that was made with the small thin patties  and they had both been hoping for a big burger patty rather than many little ones. I had a lamb tagine that tasted like it was made in the microwave, but both the tea and the chocolate pudding I had were good.

Teapot? Yes.
Leaf tea? No.
Milk jug? Yes.
Price? Good question. As we were paying for other drinks and other food and bought in rounds it all got very confusing, but I think it was around £2 to £2.50.
Cake? Only the normal desert type cake.
Go again? I probably would, but wouldn’t go again for the tea, just for somewhere easy to go for lunch.


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Waitrose Cafe, Newbury

Oxford Road, Newbury, Berkshire, RG14 1NB   (View on map)

Bear claw, pot of Earl Grey tea and Waitrose chocolate at Waitrose Cafe in Newbury

This Waitrose has a cafe and it serves proper pots of tea and some scrummy cake. I had a pot of Earl Grey tea and a Danish Fruit Bear Claw. All hot drinks come with a little Waitrose chocolate as well. I chose the Bear Claw as I’d heard it mentioned on American TV sitcoms and drama and wasn’t sure what it was. It appears to be named after the shape of the pastry, which sort of looks like a bear’s claw. If only they sold Twinkies and had Chinese takeaway in the little white cardboard pots, then my American food curiosity would be satisfied. It stays open almost as late as the store so can be a good place to go for a pot of tea with free parking and toilets when the other cafes in Newbury are closed.

Teapot? Yes.
Leaf tea? No, Waitrose Earl Grey.
Milk jug? Little one.
Price? £1.45 for tea and £1.30 for the bear claw.
Cake? Yes – danish pastries, cakes, cupcakes, muffins, chocolates and more.
Go again? Yes.


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The Petersham Hotel and Restaurant

Nightingale Lane, Richmond, Surrey, TW10 6UZ   (View on map)

The view from our table at The Petersham

I had never been to The Petersham before, but my Mum had and she recommended it as somewhere to go for my Dad’s birthday. S, R, Mum, Dad and I all met at The Petersham in order to have some afternoon tea. The hotel was hotel-like with squishy carpets and a big piano and grand staircase in the entrance hall.

We were squashed on two small tables put next to each other, in a corner, in fact everyone who was there for afternoon tea was in a corner area of the restaurant, with diners finishing off their Sunday lunches in the main section of the restaurant. We ordered our afternoon tea and chose the tea we wanted. The tea came about ten minutes later and then we waited another 35 minutes for the afternoon tea food to arrive. As we had specifically booked for afternoon tea and had eaten lunch a long time ago in order to fit the afternoon tea in, we were not that impressed.

The fake snow at The Petersham

The tea was Twinings teabags but I still thought mine tasted a bit odd. R had three teabags and the rest of us had one, or rather, R had three teabag strings and tags hanging out of his pot and the rest of us only had one. Later we discovered that we all had three, but only R had had the strings and tags taken out of the pot for all three teabags – the rest of us had the string and tag still wrapped round two of our three teabags. By the time we realised what had happened the cardboard tags were disintigrating and bits were floating around in our tea – so no wonder it tasted odd. We didn’t complain as we couldn’t get anyone’s attention in order to complain, so just gave up.

The jam came in tiny pots and the service was very slow; on the plus side there was a fake snow flurry just outside the window at one point (to keep with the festive theme) and the food was good. My Mum has been during the week and says it was much better then, but overall we were disappointed with The Petersham.

Afternoon tea at The Petersham - note the tiny jam pots and differing numbers of teabag tags.

Teapot? Yes.
Leaf tea? No, Twinings teabags that hadn’t been unwound properly. Not nice.
Milk jug? Yes.
Price? £19.50 each.
Cake? Yes, pastries and cake and scones.
Go again? No.


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Nelson’s Diner

Kingsclere Service Station, A339 Newbury Road, Kingsclere, RG20 4TA   (View on map)

Tea and two milkshakes at Nelson's Diner

Nelson’s Diner is an American style diner, bizarrely situated next to a petrol station on an ‘A’ road in Hampshire. I say bizarrely, but now I think about it every American style diner I can remember seeing has been at the side of an ‘A’ road. Did anyone else ever go to ‘AJ’s Diner’ on the A1? Strange.

I had been chatting to J about wanting to go somewhere that served milkshakes in those steel tumblers and tall glasses as I always saw them on Neighbours. J said she knew just the place and a few weeks later we were having lunch at the small but perfectly American Nelson’s Diner.

Far too much food at Nelson's Diner.

We had a milkshake each and I also ordered a pot of tea as I wanted to see what it would be like. One of us had a strawberry milkshake and one of us had a ginger one, but I can’t honestly remember who had what. They were both really really good though – thick and in the right tumbler and glass combination. Also extrememly large – enough for two glasses full. Tea came in a pot so that was all okay.

The portions of food were large too and just thinking about the visit makes me feel a bit queasy. I admit that I ate far too much – hot dog and chips and milkshake and tea and pancakes and ice cream. I over indulged and felt sick for the rest of the day, but I would go back – just order less food.

Teapot? Yes.
Leaf tea? No, teabags.
Milk jug? Yes.
Price? £1.70 for the tea, £2.70 for the strawberry shake, £3.85 for the ginger shake, £7 for cheesy hot dog, £9.50 for a ‘Houston’ burger, £2.95 for onion rings and £4.85 for some very tasty pancakes.
Cake? Not really, more desert and American food. And lots of milkshakes.
Go again? Yes.


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The Chandos

29 St Martins Lane, London, WC2N 4ER   (View on map) 020 7836 1401

Tea with a doily at The Chandos.

The Chandos is a pub in Covent Garden that we went to when it was bitterly cold and a there was a tube strike on. We’d walked from St Pancras and were in need of some hot tea. Pubs can be tricky little things when it comes to tea, sometimes they’re great and sometimes they are rubbish. We went to the upstairs bar as there were no seats downstairs, lots of wood panelling and striped furniture. A good rule of thumb regarding the quality of pub tea is whether or not they serve food. The Chandos does serve food but had stopped serving by the time we got there, so we were taking a risk, but decided it was a risk worth taking.

The risk paid off. Tea for two came on a tray with a doily, milk jug, teapot, cups and saucers, teaspoons and all.

Teapot? Yes.
Leaf tea? No, but nice teabags.
Milk jug? Yes.
Price? £2.50 for tea for two.
Cake? No.
Go again? Yes.


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The Chocolate Teapot

4 Station Road, Esher, Surrey, KT10 8DY   (View on map)   020 8398 8866

The view from our table at The Chocolate Teapot (the window tables were taken when we arrived or we would naturally have nabbed one of those).

The Chocolate Teapot was recommended by a reader of the blog in September and it’s taken me a while to go visit but I have managed it.

The cafe is tucked away next to Esher train station and if you’re driving there you’ll need to park in one of the roads coming off Station Road. We headed over there on a Sunday for an early lunch and when we got there they were still serving breakfast (lunch doesn’t start until 1pm) which suited us fine.

The tables and chairs are nice and solid, with pretty tablecloths and flowers in vases. The china is patterned and a mix of different styles and colours and we all enjoyed seeing which teapot we got given. There were shelves high up on the wall with many different teapots on and while we were eating a couple brought in an unusual teapot for the owners to add to the collection on display in the tearoom.

A feast of tea and breakfast at The Chocolate Teapot.

There were a range of different teas available and a range of different breakfasts. Dad and S went for the full English and Mum and I went for the smoked salmon and scrambled eggs. I haven’t made a note of which tea we chose but I seem to remember S and I had Lady Grey with Mum going for Darjeeling and Dad for English Breakfast. Apologies if I’m wrong.

The food was good and the tea was hot and kept on coming. We polished off all the breakfasts and then considered the cake. The Chocolate Teapot has one of my favourite things to see in any cafe or tearooms: a cake filled sideboard. It’s always a good sign as it gives you a range of cake and implies they are busy enough to get through all the cake on display without any trouble. There was a huge selection but we went for bakewell tart, chocolate fudge cake and apple cake (I think, obviously I was too excited by the eating and drinking at this cafe as I haven’t got my normal level of notes to refer to). All the cake was excellent, we were very happy.

Cake and tea at The Chocolate Teapot.

Teapot? Yes, lots of different pretty patterned ones.
Leaf tea? No, but good quality teabags.
Milk jug? Yes.
Price? £1.40 for speciality tea, £4.50 for smoked salmon and scrambled eggs, £5.95 for full English.
Cake? Yes, on the magical cake sideboard.
Go again? Yes, especially as they offer a basic afternoon tea for £5.95 and a larger version for £7.50.